TourMaG – You created the Cercle des Vacances Group in 2002. What was your journey before that creation and how did the group build itself?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : The Cercle des Vacances Group is a family business that I founded in 2002.
Previously, I led Vacances Air Canada, Air Canada’s tour operator, from 1992 to 2001. I had also participated in the launch of Voyageurs du Monde.
In September 2001, Air Canada announced the closure of its European subsidiaries. I then decided to reestablish the French operation as part of an LBO. The organization was turning over around 5 million euros and employed about fifteen people.
I first developed Billets Discount, specialized in distributing airline tickets, with a strong positioning on affinity markets, notably the Antilles, the Indian Ocean and Africa.
Then I created Cercle des Voyages, the brand dedicated to high-end bespoke travel. Finally, Croisiris is our activity dedicated to traditional, premium and expedition cruises.
Today, the group represents around 150 million euros in turnover and employs 150 staff. We have grown mainly organically while preserving our independence.
Our values remain proximity, accessibility and caring, i.e., the attention given to both employees and customers.
TourMaG – What assessment do you make of the 2026 fiscal year in a challenging context?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : Our fiscal year ends on October 31, and we anticipate overall business volume to be broadly stable compared with 2025. However, activities do not all follow the same trajectory.
Billets Discount should rise by about 4%, notably thanks to the expansion of our network of agencies in Réunion. For tailor-made travel, the year is more uneven. The summer was dynamic, but that was not enough to offset a tougher first semester, particularly due to the geopolitical context in the Middle East.
Cruising remains well oriented, especially in the high-end segment. Sales for 2027 are well under way, even as we remain attentive to the evolution of the international context.
Rose-Marie Farrugia : The Cercle des Vacances Group is a family business that I founded in 2002.
Previously, I led Vacances Air Canada, Air Canada’s tour operator, from 1992 to 2001. I had also participated in the launch of Voyageurs du Monde.
In September 2001, Air Canada announced the closure of its European subsidiaries. I then decided to reestablish the French operation as part of an LBO. The organization was turning over around 5 million euros and employed about fifteen people.
I first developed Billets Discount, specialized in distributing airline tickets, with a strong positioning on affinity markets, notably the Antilles, the Indian Ocean and Africa.
Then I created Cercle des Voyages, the brand dedicated to high-end bespoke travel. Finally, Croisiris is our activity dedicated to traditional, premium and expedition cruises.
Today, the group represents around 150 million euros in turnover and employs 150 staff. We have grown mainly organically while preserving our independence.
Our values remain proximity, accessibility and caring, i.e., the attention given to both employees and customers.
TourMaG – What assessment do you make of the 2026 fiscal year in a challenging context?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : Our fiscal year ends on October 31, and we anticipate overall business volume to be broadly stable compared with 2025. However, activities do not all follow the same trajectory.
Billets Discount should rise by about 4%, notably thanks to the expansion of our network of agencies in Réunion. For tailor-made travel, the year is more uneven. The summer was dynamic, but that was not enough to offset a tougher first semester, particularly due to the geopolitical context in the Middle East.
Cruising remains well oriented, especially in the high-end segment. Sales for 2027 are well under way, even as we remain attentive to the evolution of the international context.
Billets Discount: A Second Agency in Réunion
TourMaG – Billets Discount addresses travelers who regularly travel to see their families abroad. How do you respond to their budget constraints in a context of high airfares?Rose-Marie Farrugia : This is a real issue for travelers who regularly visit family in the Antilles, the Indian Ocean or Africa. A ticket can represent between 600 and 1,000 euros per person. For a family, the budget quickly becomes substantial.
We built our offering around these needs: affordable fares, two checked bags, and installment payment options. But credit must be used prudently. Our role is also to provide solutions tailored to each person’s situation.
We want to make travel accessible and maintain a connection with ultramarine territories. That’s also why we favor a physical presence among the communities.
TourMaG – You recently opened a second agency in Réunion and you also have points of sale in mainland France. What is your expansion strategy?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : We were already present in Saint-Denis and opened an agency in Saint-Pierre about a month ago. For residents of the island’s south, traveling to the north can be challenging due to distances and travel time.
Not all our clients are comfortable with digital channels. Some prefer to speak directly with an advisor, especially when organizing a major family trip.
We want to continue this development where diasporas are located. It is in this spirit that we opened our agency near the Gare de l’Est in Paris to be closer to African diasporas, but also Sri Lankan and Indian communities.
We remain attentive to opportunities that could strengthen our presence in ultramarine territories and in mainland France.
Croisiris, a New String to Cercle des Vacances’ Bow
TourMaG – You launched Croisiris about three years ago. Why enter the cruise market and which segments do you intend to develop?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : We launched this activity after the Covid period. I was initially quite skeptical, associating cruising with mass tourism. After studying the market, I discovered significant potential, particularly in the luxury and expedition segments.
France counts about 560,000 cruise passengers, compared with 1.5 to 2 million in the United Kingdom, Italy or Spain. The French market thus still has room to grow.
To succeed, you need specialists able to advise clients on ships, cabins, and itineraries. A cabin is not chosen solely by price: its location can change the travel experience.
We want to develop premium and expedition cruises, but also themed cruises. We are notably working on cycling concepts, with speakers linked to the Tour de France and cycling excursions to places that are sometimes difficult to access by other means.
TourMaG – Cercle des Voyages is positioned in premium tailor-made travel. How do you define this expertise and what distinguishes true luxury?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : Tailor-made travel rests first and foremost on listening and the art of conversation. It’s not simply about filling out a questionnaire or assembling services. We must understand each person’s desires, constraints, and expectations, sometimes within the same family.
Our advisors are experts in their destinations. They have lived there, have ties, or a real passion, and they travel there regularly to refresh their knowledge and maintain local connections. This enables them to offer unique experiences and to anticipate unforeseen events better.
Luxury is not limited to the price of a hotel or a first-class flight. It also lies in personalization, attention to detail, and anticipation. True luxury is when everything seems to have been designed for you.
Our membership in the Virtuoso network also allows us to rely on carefully selected partners and to offer continuity of service.
TourMaG – How is the client journey organized, from online research to booking a tailor-made trip?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : Our website is the entry point for nearly 90% of our clients, but it isn’t an e-commerce site. The client submits a request, then it is handled by a destination expert advisor.
We prefer video conferencing appointments, but we also welcome clients to our offices on Avenue de l’Opéra in Paris, in small confidential salons. The advisor can share photos, itineraries, and videos to help the client project themselves.
We also organize webinars with tourism offices and speakers, which usually bring together 100 to 150 clients and are available in replay.
TourMaG – This expertise rests on the advisors. What profiles do you seek and how do you retain these collaborators?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : It’s a major challenge. We look for people who know the destinations, know how to listen, and have a sense for client relations. They are often seasoned profiles, because this expertise cannot be learned solely from books.
The advisor’s role does not stop at the booking. They accompany the client before departure, during the journey, and upon return. We want to maintain this relationship over time. Our family culture, the care given to our teams, and our commitment to CSR are also important elements in attracting and retaining staff.
Rose-Marie Farrugia : We launched this activity after the Covid period. I was initially quite skeptical, associating cruising with mass tourism. After studying the market, I discovered significant potential, particularly in the luxury and expedition segments.
France counts about 560,000 cruise passengers, compared with 1.5 to 2 million in the United Kingdom, Italy or Spain. The French market thus still has room to grow.
To succeed, you need specialists able to advise clients on ships, cabins, and itineraries. A cabin is not chosen solely by price: its location can change the travel experience.
We want to develop premium and expedition cruises, but also themed cruises. We are notably working on cycling concepts, with speakers linked to the Tour de France and cycling excursions to places that are sometimes difficult to access by other means.
TourMaG – Cercle des Voyages is positioned in premium tailor-made travel. How do you define this expertise and what distinguishes true luxury?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : Tailor-made travel rests first and foremost on listening and the art of conversation. It’s not simply about filling out a questionnaire or assembling services. We must understand each person’s desires, constraints, and expectations, sometimes within the same family.
Our advisors are experts in their destinations. They have lived there, have ties, or a real passion, and they travel there regularly to refresh their knowledge and maintain local connections. This enables them to offer unique experiences and to anticipate unforeseen events better.
Luxury is not limited to the price of a hotel or a first-class flight. It also lies in personalization, attention to detail, and anticipation. True luxury is when everything seems to have been designed for you.
Our membership in the Virtuoso network also allows us to rely on carefully selected partners and to offer continuity of service.
TourMaG – How is the client journey organized, from online research to booking a tailor-made trip?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : Our website is the entry point for nearly 90% of our clients, but it isn’t an e-commerce site. The client submits a request, then it is handled by a destination expert advisor.
We prefer video conferencing appointments, but we also welcome clients to our offices on Avenue de l’Opéra in Paris, in small confidential salons. The advisor can share photos, itineraries, and videos to help the client project themselves.
We also organize webinars with tourism offices and speakers, which usually bring together 100 to 150 clients and are available in replay.
TourMaG – This expertise rests on the advisors. What profiles do you seek and how do you retain these collaborators?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : It’s a major challenge. We look for people who know the destinations, know how to listen, and have a sense for client relations. They are often seasoned profiles, because this expertise cannot be learned solely from books.
The advisor’s role does not stop at the booking. They accompany the client before departure, during the journey, and upon return. We want to maintain this relationship over time. Our family culture, the care given to our teams, and our commitment to CSR are also important elements in attracting and retaining staff.
“AI Must Augment Humans, Not Replace Them.”
TourMaG – You have been working with artificial intelligence for several years. What uses have you identified and how do you support your teams through this transformation?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : We have worked on this topic for three years. We mapped about fifty use cases to identify repetitive tasks where AI can save us time. This includes marketing content production, analysis of client data, and our visibility on search engines and generative AI tools that travelers increasingly use to prepare their trips.
We appointed an AI lead and put in place a charter. Training the teams is essential, but we must also respect the legal framework and GDPR. The aim is to choose useful uses, not to use AI for AI’s sake.
We have also undertaken significant work to improve our presence in large language models (LLMs). When a traveler plans a trip to Canada with AI and asks how to organize their journey or which agency to recommend, we want Cercle des Voyages to appear in the answers.
We must therefore adapt our indexing to these new usages, in addition to traditional search engines, so that clients can then benefit from the expertise of our advisors.
TourMaG – How can the advisor maintain their added value when clients arrive at the agency with an AI-designed itinerary?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : The advisor must then verify the proposals, confront them with reality, and identify constraints that may have been overlooked. An itinerary may seem coherent, but not suit an elderly person who walks with difficulty or a family with young children.
The profession is evolving: it’s no longer just about building a trip from a blank page, but also about arbitrating, advising, adapting, and coordinating the services. AI can help us better analyze needs and save time, but it does not replace experience or human relationships. AI must augment humans, not replace them.
We also must ensure that our offers remain visible in AI tool responses, just as we learned to optimize our SEO on search engines. At the same time, we want to strengthen client support during their stay, notably through WhatsApp and more personalized digital tools.
Rose-Marie Farrugia : We have worked on this topic for three years. We mapped about fifty use cases to identify repetitive tasks where AI can save us time. This includes marketing content production, analysis of client data, and our visibility on search engines and generative AI tools that travelers increasingly use to prepare their trips.
We appointed an AI lead and put in place a charter. Training the teams is essential, but we must also respect the legal framework and GDPR. The aim is to choose useful uses, not to use AI for AI’s sake.
We have also undertaken significant work to improve our presence in large language models (LLMs). When a traveler plans a trip to Canada with AI and asks how to organize their journey or which agency to recommend, we want Cercle des Voyages to appear in the answers.
We must therefore adapt our indexing to these new usages, in addition to traditional search engines, so that clients can then benefit from the expertise of our advisors.
TourMaG – How can the advisor maintain their added value when clients arrive at the agency with an AI-designed itinerary?
Rose-Marie Farrugia : The advisor must then verify the proposals, confront them with reality, and identify constraints that may have been overlooked. An itinerary may seem coherent, but not suit an elderly person who walks with difficulty or a family with young children.
The profession is evolving: it’s no longer just about building a trip from a blank page, but also about arbitrating, advising, adapting, and coordinating the services. AI can help us better analyze needs and save time, but it does not replace experience or human relationships. AI must augment humans, not replace them.
We also must ensure that our offers remain visible in AI tool responses, just as we learned to optimize our SEO on search engines. At the same time, we want to strengthen client support during their stay, notably through WhatsApp and more personalized digital tools.
